Symbolism of the Sacrament

The Atonement of Jesus Christ

I once taught this as a young woman's lesson and made a sacrament card for each of them, to put in their scriptures and pull out during the sacrament to remind them of how sacred and  important this ordinance really is. 

Sunday best- The sacrament is the most important part of our Sacrament Meeting.  It is why we meet, to remember our covenants we made at baptism and to make new ones.  What we wear matters.  Those who are administering and passing the Sacrament wear white shirts representing  purity as they administer the Holy Emblems of the Sacrament.  It is symbolic and similar to the white we wear when we are baptized and the white we wear in the temple.  As young women and women it is our privilege to wear our very best while partaking and participating in the Lord's Holy Sacrament.

The table-The bread and water trays are arranged on the table.  A cloth is carefully placed over the trays.  Christ's body was also covered with a cloth in the tomb.  As we look at the table, we are reminded of the actual burial of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Water is poured-Water which symbolizes the blood Christ spilled for us, is poured into cups.  The Savior's greatest suffering occurred while in Gethsemane where it is recorded that He bled from every pore.

Bread is torn-As the Sacrament begins, we sing a hymn about Christ and the bread is literally torn.  Read the words to Hymn #181 ..."bruised, broken, and torn for us on Calvary's Hill"  We are watching the symbolism of His body being torn for us.

Sacrament prayers-Jesus Christ instituted His holy sacrament while He was on earth.  It is of such importance, it must be offered exactly, word for word, as written, offered as many times as it takes to get it right.  Isn't that like us?  We each struggle with our own weaknesses. The Lord, who has immense patience with us, allows us to keep trying, repenting, and trying again-as many times as it takes to get it right.  That is what the Atonement is all about.

Our covenant hand-Our right hand is our covenant hand, and therefore the hand we reach to take the bread and water.  We are literally partaking of the Atonement.  We are letting it enter us both physically and spiritually.

Covenants made-"That they may witness unto thee-to always remember him"  As we partake of the Sacrament, we are reminded of what the Savior did for us personally.  We promise to live as he would live, to say what He would say, to be as He would be.  We are saying that we are willing to testify of Christ.  We are saying, "if you want to know what a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saint believes, watch me!"  When I'm with my friends, watch me!  It is not enough to say His name.  It is not enough to learn about Him.  We must come to KNOW Him.  This is standing as witnesses of God at all times, and in all things, and in all places.

3rd Annual YW Sacrament Program

lds.org

Sunday we had our 3rd annual Young Women's Sacrament Meeting Program for our ward. 

 Once again, it was power-filled and amazing to be apart of.

Our theme was this year's mutual theme Doctrine and Covenants 115:5:

Verily I say unto you all: ^aArise and shine forth, that thy ^blight may be a ^cstandard for the ^dnations;

We began preparing for our program last fall by practicing our songs in Sunday opening exercises.  We felt our young women had A MESSAGE to share.  We saw our young women as one of the Lord's favorite tools on His tool belt. 

Elder Russell M. Nelson said it best:
" The influence of the young women of the Church, like a sleeping giant, will awaken, arise, and inspire the inhabitants of the earth as a mighty force for righteousness."

What was their message?

To arise to the mountain of the Lord, the holy temple, and to qualify for and be worthy of a temple recommend.  Now is the time!

For our script we used excerpts from the General Young Women's broadcast among many other quotes and stories from other conference addresses. Several young women bore their testimonies. Mixed in with beautiful song.  It was powerful.

We had all the young women dress in solid colored shirts with no logos or design. They wore any shade of yellow, any shade of orange, any shade of pink, or white if they didn't have anything in the other colors. 

We asked all of them to wear their Medallions or torch necklaces.

The young women were glowing!  They were so beautiful  they were literally shining.


Read or print our program:  {Click Here}

YW Sacrament Program previous post {click here}

Teaching our Children to be Reverent

A must read talk from Elder Dallin H. Oaks: {Sacrament Meeting and the Sacrament}

Teaching our children to be reverent at church is one of the most important lessons we can teach.
Our example is paramount.

What is reverence?  Reverence is about respect and is a form of worship.  Elder Hales has taught, "Reverence invites revelation." We know it is important.  We were taught to fold our arms and be quiet at church since we were born. 

We go to extremes to keep our children quiet during Sacrament Meeting.  We make quiet books, bring Cheerios, their favorite small quiet toy, colors, papers, gum, fruit snacks, and anything we can scrounge up in our bags that might be entertaining,  etc.  Of coarse this didn't exist when we were starting out, but i-pads.  What ever it takes that is quiet we let them do.  Just get through sacrament meeting as reverently as possible. 

Of coarse there are the un-planned noises or out bursts that always seem to happen during the most quiet noticeable times of the meeting.  My newborns would always loudly fill their diaper during the sacrament which would always bring snickers from those sitting around us.  I remember as a small child screaming as my mom took me out, "Don't spank me mommy!"

If we can teach them the principles of reverence to our children when they are young, we are saving ourselves a lot of work in the future.  It feels like and IS a lot of work at first when they are young, but once they are taught and know about being reverent we are essentially opening up their minds and hearts to feel and hear the Spirit through out their lives.  This is one of the greatest gifts we can give them. 

 The 1st Principle of Reverence:  WHY?

When we are at church we are in Heavenly Father's literal house. We should dress, act, and speak reverently.  As a child my favorite song was The Chapel Doors [seem to say to me shhhhhh  be still, for this is a reverent place to be....shhhhhhhhh be still] I loved that song as it taught me the importance of reverence.   As a little girl of 6 or 7 going to church in my tights that had a hole in the knee, I remember my mother telling me we are in Heavenly Father's house and we should wear our best clothes.Although I wasn't capable of buying my own clothes at that age, my mother taught me that the clothes we wear to church matter.  They should be our very best.  My mother instilled within me strong feelings of special-ness and respect for Heavenly Father's house.

The Sacrament is the most important part of our Sacrament meeting.  It is WHY we meet. To renew our covenants we made at baptism and to make new ones.  We can teach this to our children when they are very young. Before they are baptized and are old enough to make covenants, they are taught.  And reverence is a big part of that worship.

The 2nd Principle of Reverence: HOW?

Years ago on  a particularly bad week at church, I had 2 rambunctious toddlers, and two new-born twins.  I am sure we were the circus show of church.  An elderly lady came up to us after church and said, "I think your quiver is full"  Ya, I was feeling that same thought too... right about then.  I was determined to not only survive that period of my life, but to become the champion of it. 

The thought of not coming to church, or coming late, or leaving early...was never an option.  We went to church every week, second row, on time,  and we came equipped with plans to accomplish the impossible: have reverent children at church.  This is what WE did:

• We prepared for Sunday on Saturday, so Sunday morning was not chaotic (or was less so : )
• We taught reverence at home in Family Home Evening a lot.  I made a picture of eyes, ears, mouth, hands, feet, etc. and we taught them how to each part of our body can be reverent.
• I practiced church at home sometimes where we would set the timer and sit on the couch together like we were in church.  They learned how to be reverent at home first.
• When they were noisy at church, they got taken out by their dad.  This wasn't a run and play in the church foyer time.  Their dad made it an uncomfortable for them. He would find an empty class room and set them in a hard metal chair with their arms folded for a designated period of time.  They learned that church was a better place to be than out with dad.
• If it was a "bad" week of reverence in church, they got to practice being reverent AFTER church on the couch at home.  Little by little, they learned how to be reverent and that Mom and Dad meant business!
• I had my Sacrament Meeting survival bag of books [touchy-feely, texture books are great, or cloth or felt books], treats [make sure the wrappers are not noisy-or put them in a Ziploc bag before church], and tricks to make it through each week when they were very small.  If they were extra noisy with a certain toy, that toy didn't come back the next week.   There were many times  I felt I deserved a T-shirt that said, "I survived church this week"
• We taught them they had to wait to get drinks or go to the bathroom.  We weren't making a million trips to the bathroom or drinking fountain during the meeting. Going in and out, up and down, back and forth is not reverent for you or those sitting around you. [ Sometimes you cannot help it with young babies and toddlers.  You get points for showing up! ]  When they are really bored, by girls like to "fake" thirst or bathroom needs.  Now they have to wait until after the meeting,  unless it is a real need or emergency. 
• As the children grow, so do the expectations.  Make sure they are age appropriate. 

 This might sound a little rough, but we only had to teach it this strongly at the beginning.  They learned what the expectations were and learned to be reverent in church.  We are not perfect by a long shot,  but we are always striving to teach these principles to our children. 

We know that teaching our children reverence is one of the most important principles they can be taught.